Sunday, March 1, 2009

In a recent post, Amy and I detailed a trip we went on where we visited with both our families. This time, when my parents flew into town, they decided to bring two of my nieces (Grace and Lily) along with them so they could spend time with their paternal grandmother (are you lost yet?).

In any case, Amy and I got to spend some time playing and goofing around with the girls, and we thought we'd share a few photos of my beautiful nieces.

The girls decided it would be fun to dress me up, tie me to the chair, and put a braid around my head that they decided was my "girl hair". I was really at their mercy.....where did they learn to tie those knots???

Lily, plotting what she can do next to torture her foolishly permissive uncle.....

Could a girl with this angelic face be capable of wrong??

Sorry Grace, but we KNOW that the kind of behavior that YOU are capable of!!!

A few weeks ago, we took a little week and a half trip south. We spent time in Idaho Falls, Logan, UT, Salt Lake City, and Nephi, UT. When you add up all the driving, we spent 27 hours in the car.

But that's beside the point - the truth is, we had a great time! We got to visit with Amy's Grandma and Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin in Idaho Falls, my brother, his wife, and my baby nephew in Logan, my parents in SLC, and we also got to see Amy's Dad and Stepmom in Nephi.

Phew!! We really should have taken more pics, but we were having too much fun to get the camera out very often. However, we did get a few pictures while we were skiing with my family in SLC! The amazing part was that this was essentially Amy's first time downhill skiing, and she picked it up almost immediately!! We had a great time, and we hope we can go again before the snow melts!

Jim trying to be cool with a little jump on the side of the trail

Amy working on her turns in her "Tropical Skittles" ski outfit - this one requires a little explanation.... A local outdoors store was having a huge sale, and my dad bought these bright blue pants for my 8 year old niece - for some reason, the sizing was WAY off, and they ended up fitting Amy perfectly. As it turned out, the bright blue clashed spectacularly with her bright green coat, but at least we always knew where she was...... Amy decided that the color combo looked like Skittles tropical assortment of candies.....

My dad, displaying one of his trademark S.E.G.'s (S__t Eating Grin). Aparently he's quite proud of himself for being able to stand motionless on the ski hill and not fall down.

My older niece, Grace, also proved to be a fast learner on skis - I wish it was this easy for me back when I started snowboarding (and snowboarding is, arguably, an easier sport to master)!!

What trip would be complete without a "Mom, quit taking pictures of me standing here doing nothing" shot. Amy likes the fact that this picture makes it look like I'm peeing in the woods on a public ski hill.

Amy "Skittles" MacNair smiling after a long day on the slopes!! Hopefully we'll see a lot more pictures like this as she continues to progress!